Re: Bed Bugs

In Reply to: Bed Bugs posted by Larry on October 07, 2004 at 10:26:30:

You should probably keep those covers on your bed for over a year. Bed bugs have been known to survive without feeding for a year or so.

Plus check the vinyl covers for rips and tears. I bought the same covers for my mattress and box spring and the box spring one would get ripped because of friction with the metal frame. It probably won't be long before they get big holes in them. You could easily pull them apart with your hands.

I'm planning on getting the allergy-relief ones for the box spring and mattress because they are much much tougher in strength then the vinyl ones. They are also much more expensive. I would also get some for your pillows.

I have no idea if mothballs are effective.

You should also have all of your bedding, linens, clothing...etc, all of it, washed and dried on high heat, then sealed in plastic bags until you're sure the bugs are gone.

If I were you, I would have an extermintor, or some sort of inspector come and check out your place. I had one health official tell me if you see one bug on the wall, that usually means theres a 100 more where that came from. If your renting contact your landlord about the problem, they should be the ones to cover the cost of the exterminator. But you should DEFINATELY get an exterminator. These bugs are EXTREMELY hard to get rid of without one. And sometimes still really hard even with an exterminators help.

The best thing you can do is educate yourself on this subject. Search the web, this forum, question exterminators..whatever you have to do.

: Well a few weeks ago my fiancée and I noticed some bites on her legs. The bites themselves swelled up considerably reaching 2 inches in diameter, finally turning black and blue. We spoke with a friend, and we couldn't rule out bedbugs. The bites continued - she seemed much more allergic to the bites than myself. The pattern was consistent with bedbug bites. I live in a large apartment complex in Allston, MA - an area well known for its bedbugs.

: The room has hardwood floors. Right away we put down Drione dust under and around the bed. The bites continued. We washed the bedclothes, but the bites continued. We put the mattress in a vinyl mattress cover from Bed Bath and Beyond. Still, the bites continued. Finally, I had a friend help me disassemble my wooden platform bed and remove it. In the process we found two large bed bugs living in the boards of the bed. A third small bedbug was found along the baseboard. All were killed and preserved. I also found two old insect skins that looked like 1mm hairy caterpillars. We did not find "a nest."

: I dusted the porous baseboard with Drione (but I wonder if Comet would have worked just as well or better) and then caulked it to prevent the bugs from re-entering the room.

: I placed a plastic (3 mil) painter’s drop cloth and taped it down to create a clean place for my vinyl-covered mattress. I taped down the sides of the plastic drop cloth. I then placed double-sided tape around the perimeter of the room near the baseboard to help trap bedbugs. I also did the same, surrounding furniture and the doorway with tape traps as well.

: Last night I slept without a bite.

: To summarize what I did:

: 1. Got rid of the wooded bed frame: 2. Put the mattress in a vinyl protective cover. [I plan on putting moth balls in there to kill any nymphs that I missed in my inspection of the mattress.]: 3. Placed Drione pesticide in cracks and caulked the baseboards: 4. Placed tape traps around the perimeter of the room and around furniture.: 5. Laundered bedclothes and all exposed clothing. [Will do more laundry tonight.]

: Finally, I have a few questions:

: Although I didn’t see any bedbugs on my mattress – I am now quite paranoid – and want to make sure my mattress is bedbug free before I take it out of its vinyl sheath. Do you have any thoughts on using PDB mothballs to kill bedbugs? How long will I have to wait before I can take my mattress out of the vinyl bag? Will the mattress remain poisonous for humans after treating it with mothballs?

: Any suggestions on other preventative measures I can take?

: If I only found 3 bedbugs - what is the likelihood that they have a nest somewhere in the room?